Import/Export Gmail Filters with New Labs Feature

Google has created a new feature in Gmail Labs that allows Gmail users to import and export filters. It lets you download a file containing some or all of your filters or upload one to create a set of filters.

Software Engineer Luke Blanshard shares the following uses for the feature at the Gmail Blog:

- Download all your filters.

-  Share filters with other people.

- Temporarily "disable" a set of filters by exporting them and then deleting them.

- If you’re comfortable editing XML, you can make new filters that are similar to existing filters.

He elaborates a bit on each of those in the original post.

There is another feature added to Gmail worth noting as well. It’s not exactly a new one, but it has returned. That would be the search web box that mysteriously disappeared a while back. It is now back by popular demand.

"There was an online petition, Gadget code to create your own search box and a few other reactions to Google’s dropping of the search option inside gmail," explains Frank Watson at SearchEngineWatch. "Amazing, or maybe a ploy to bring people’s attention to that way of searching? Not really likely but some of Google’s recent moves have definitely shown signs of using a new approach to strengthening their position."

Either way, the feature is back and place and making users happy. Having the button there makes sense considering all the other features that have been added to Gmail to enhance usability and convenience.